Pujols hurt as Cards tie for N.L. Central lead

The Cardinals' Skip Schumaker celebrates with teammates after hitting a walkoff home run against the Royals.

Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

Cardinals 5, Royals 4

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals found a way to rally past the Kansas City Royals despite losing Albert Pujols to an injury.

Pujols sprained his left wrist and hurt his shoulder Sunday trying to make a tag at first base, but the Cardinals recovered to beat the Royals, 5-4, on Skip Schumaker's ninth-inning homer.

The Cardinals moved into a tie for first place in the N.L. Central with Milwaukee, which lost at Boston.

Pujols was injured in the sixth and the three-time N.L. MVP left the game. He will be evaluated today, a day off for St. Louis.

"To be honest, I can't give you guys too much until the X-rays and an MRI," said Pujols, whose left wrist was tightly wrapped. "I know I'm pretty sore. Am I worried? Of course. Hopefully, everything will come out negative tomorrow. When I come out of a game, believe me, something is really wrong. Hopefully, cross our fingers and I'll be all right."

General Manager John Mozeliak said no roster moves are being planned.

Wilson Betemit hit a chopper up the middle off Cardinals starter Jamie Garcia. Second baseman Pete Kozma backhanded the ball and made a jump-throw to first, pulling Pujols off the bag. As the slugger tried for a tag, Betemit ran into his glove hand and Pujols went down to the ground in pain.

"He hit me on my wrist and my shoulder," Pujols said. "He kind of jammed me back. It's the toughest play to make as a first baseman. It's a bang-bang play. I saw the replay a couple of times, but I didn't really want to look at it."

The collision was unavoidable, Betemit said.

"I was running hard and the ball arrived at the same time I got to the base," Betemit said. "I couldn't do anything about it."

With one out in the ninth, Schumaker connected off Tim Collins (3-4), the fifth Royals pitcher. It was Schumaker's second game-ending homer, the first coming in 2008, and his first home run since April 13.

"I'm not sure there's a better feeling than hitting a home run walk off," Schumaker said. "It doesn't happen too often, home runs in general so I'll take it."

Reds 2, Blue Jays 1 at Cincinnati: Miguel Cairo hit a two-run homer in the sixth off Carlos Villanueva, ending Cincinnati's streak of 16 scoreless innings, and the Reds beat Toronto to get their first win over an American League team this season.

Athletics 2, Giants 1 at Oakland, Calif.: Landon Powell hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning, his first homer of the season, and Oakland held on to beat San Francisco, completing a three-game sweep at home of the defending World Series champs. Powell, making a rare start in place of catcher Kurt Suzuki, was hitless in two at-bats against San Francisco starter Matt Cain, a former Houston High player, before hitting his first homer of the season off reliever Jeremy Affeldt (1-1). Trevor Cahill (7-5) pitched eight innings to win for the first time since May 9. Cain left with his fifth no-decision of the season, ending a three-game winning streak.

Braves 4, Rangers 2 at Atlanta: Jason Heyward hit a two-run single in the third inning and Freddie Freeman added an RBI double in the seventh to help Jair Jurrjens earn his ninth victory in Atlanta;s win over Texas.

Yankees 10, Cubs 4 at Chicago: . Nick Swisher hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning and New York routed Chicago in the finale of its first series at Wrigley Field in eight years.

Indians 5, Pirates 2 (11 innings) at Cleveland: Cord Phelps hit his first major league homer in the 11th inning, a three-run shot that gave A.L. Central leader Cleveland a victory over Pittsburgh.

Orioles 7, Nationals 4 at Washington: Mark Reynolds had three hits, including a home run, and Baltimore ended Washington's eight-game winning streak.

Rays 2, Marlins 1 at St. Petersburg, Fla.: James Shields (7-4) threw a four-hitter with 10 strikeouts in his second consecutive complete game, Casey Kotchman had a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning and Tampa Bay handed the reeling Marlins their 10th loss in a row.

Twins 5, Padres 4 at Minneapolis: Drew Butera's single scored Delmon Young in the bottom of the ninth as Minnesota rallied to beat San Diego and extend its winning streak to seven games.

Tigers 9, Rockies 1 at Denver: Justin Verlander threw a four-hitter for his second straight complete game and Detroit beat Colorado. Verlander (9-3) has four complete games, matching his total from all of last year,

Mariners 2, Phillies 0 at Seattle: Jason Vargas tossed a three-hitter for his second shutout of the season, outdueling left-hander Cole Hamels to lead Seattle to a victory over Philadelphia.

White Sox 8, Diamondbacks 2 at Phoenix: Phil Humber pitched effectively into the eighth inning, Paul Konerko homered for the third straight game and A.J. Pierzynski hit a three-run double to lift Chicago over Arizona.